I saw one of my fellow SBS4 sisters using this sketch and decided I wanted to give it a try. I love how my card came out. I love this cow image. It's by Lisa Rassmusen.



The red is embossed with a "heart" embossing plate.

I think everything else is self explanatory.

What have YOU created lately? I have to admit...I only made ONE card this weekend so it's going to be slim pickens for posting to my blog this week. My sister in law posted a comment a few days ago about the piggy card I made and she told me my niece is TOTALLY into pigs. So that's what I made this weekend...a girly piggy card to mail to my niece.

Jane

I'm a bad, bad girl...

I have a savings account where I divert $25 to each payday. It is kind of my "mad money" account. I don't keep track of it really. If we are getting close to running out of money in our checking account then I'll use it for gas or lunches. But I use it pretty sparingly. So I was surprised when I checked the balance and found I had $170 in in! Usually it runs less than $50 in that account. Guess I've been using it even more sparingly than usual! LOL. So...I splurged!

I got a few new sets of nestabilities and a tan embossing mat so I can emboss with them in my cuttlebug machine. Most of you are probably familiar with nestabilities. But if you aren't they are thin metal dies in graduating sizes and shapes. For the basic shapes (circle, oval, square, rectangle) they also have matching graduated sizes of scalloped dies to match. You can either cut OR dry emboss with them. They are made for the Spellbinder Wizard machine...but you can use them in just about any die cutting machine. I own a few of the nesties...but have never got the mat I needed to emboss with them. And due to the cost I'd only bought the scalloped version (figured I cut out the basic shapes with either my paper cutter or my coluzzle). But really, the thing that makes these SO cool IS the embossing and the idea of embossing the solid circle (for example) and then having a scallop circle to mat it to. So I bought the coordinating "solid" sets to go with the scallop sets I already had and I bought the embossing mat. They have shipped and I'm waiting for my new toys to arrive! HERE is a card made by one of my SBS4 sisters (Sparkle) that uses the nestabilities and you can see the embossing and the scallops.

I also got two of the new release stamp sets from Clear Dollar Stamps. I fell in LOVE with the Farm Critters set. And while I was there I got the Chocoholic set as well. The Farm Critters set had a coordinating "sayings" set and a rolling "wheel" but I decided I could make do without those.

So...now I'm done buying for awhile. At least till tax return time. The main thing I want now is to add to my Copic marker collection. I've been thinking of maybe using that as an incentive for my weight loss. Maybe one new marker for every 5 pound loss? But I'd only do the actual buy maybe every six months or so. The cheaper places you have to place a sizable order in order to get free shipping AND a good price on the markers.

I'm off to make lunch and then to create a few cards to share for the week.

Jane

Another sketch challenge

I belong to (yet another) group called AZStampers. Mostly we chat online but also have met in person at some of the stamp conventions. One of the things we do is card exchanges. This card is for a swap called the Above/Below Swap. And it's just what it sounds like...you send a card to the person above you and below you on the swap list. I can deal with sending out two cards! Each time there is a "theme" for the swap (this time it was Birthday or Thank You). And this time they complicated it further by adding additional requirements.

The card was supposed to follow a particular sketch. It was also supposed to include:
A Sentiment
A Technique
An Embellishment(s)
Matting
Punches (or decorative scissors)

I wasn't sure I liked the sketch...but I ended up loving the card I came up with. I think it meets all the requirements too! For the "technique" I used "dry embossing" on the foil strip (but I cheated and used an embossing plate in the cuttlebug). The penguin image is from Memory Box (I love their penguins!) And the sentiment is from a new Hero Arts set I bought that has only greetings in it.



If you've never noticed, I have a "thing" for words. I love to read books and write things (stories, poetry, letters, pretty muchly anything!) So it's no surprise that that often comes across in my cards as well. I love unique greetings and it's one of those things I can never have "too much" of. Luckily, when all else fails...I can also generate greetings on the computer.

Hope you enjoy the card!

Jane

Snort

Apparently I was in a barnyard kind of mood over this past weekend!




Isn't this card adorable? The hardest part was getting the three circles cut evenly in the brown mat. (I think next time I'll take the easy way out and punch the pigs out and layer then on top of the mat instead.) The second hardest part was cutting the little tiny pig noses out and popping them up with the dimensional adhesive. Can you see the nose?

I did my one week weigh in today. I'm down 5 pounds. I was hoping for more since it's the first week and will only slow down from here (and I was really REALLY good this week) but I'll take it. It's still a bag of potatoes I'm not constantly carrying around. They say you really only need to lose about 10 pounds to start seeing the health benefits from it...so I'm halfway there.

Gotta run. Have a great day!

Jane

Case-A-Sister-Challenge

Good morning every one! As many of you know, I belong to a group of stampers called the Sisterhood of Blogging Stampers 4 (or SBS4 for short). I haven't met any of these ladies in person - but we are committed to visiting each others' blogs and encouraging each other along the stamping way. One of the things we do...is challenges. This month we have a challenge going on called the "Case a sister challenge". We are supposed to visit the other SBS4 blogs and choose a card that one of them made within the last month and we are supposed to copy it in a way that is recognizable. It doesn't have to be exactly the same but it does need to be similar enough. We don't say WHO we are casing...but instead the other sisters make guesses and there are prizes involved.

Anyways, that's the story behind this card. If you'd like to "play" along and make a guess of your own...the SBS4 sisters' blogs are all listed to the right of my blog. You can go check them out and guess who I am CASEing.



Have a great day everyone!

Jane

A Minimalist Masculine Card

This card goes back to the basics. It was a challenge to see if I could make a card I really liked without a large amount of supplies.

Here is what I started with as my supplies to use:



Basically this included the following:
1) Cardstock (brown, dark green, light green, and colonial white)
2) Adhesives (regular and pop dots for dimension)
3) Ink (black and watermark)
4) Piercer (could also use a needle or a pushpin if you don't have one)
5) Mini brads
6) Hemp

To start I used the watermark ink and random stamped on the dark green piece of cardstock. Watermark ink gives you a "tone on tone" look when stamping on uncoated cardstocks. You can also use it for wet embossing. If you don't know how to random stamp there is a good tutorial HERE. Watermark ink does stay wet for a bit so I set that aside to dry.

I stamped the saying in black and matted it to the brown cardstock. Then added pop dot adhesive to the back and set aside. Next I tore the light green strip and adhered it to the left side of the dark green cardstock. Next I cut a strip of brown and added it to the light green torn strip. Now to "fancy" it up a bit I added the piercing. Since I was truly trying to go back to the basics...I used a pushpin and a ruler (helps keep your line of holes straight and equidistant). I placed an old mouse pad under it to poke into. Here's a picture of that:



Next I finished by adhering the matted saying piece. Adding three brads to the bottom right corner. And tieing a piece of hemp around the card.



I'm really happy with the way the card turned out and if someone was to buy the supplies to make the card...they could probably buy everything for a reasonable amount. Any more my cards have so many steps and so many supplies than any set card could potentially cost big bucks to recreate. Not this one...

So...what else have I been up to? I made a few more cards this weekend. So more artwork to share this week.

I also have started a dreaded diet. I turn 39 next month. By my 40th birthday I'd like to be more comfortable in my own skin. I joined a group of other stampers who are trying to lose weight. We support each other and reward each other for every 10 pounds lost with a little stamping goody. So I'm sure you'll be hearing about that venture here on my blog every so often.

Other than that, same stuff...different day.

Jane

Masculine Card

Ok...had to follow up the VERY feminine card posted below with a very masculine card! This was a sketch challenge on SplitcoastStampers. Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out.





Both stamps are from my grab bag from The Hampton Company. I don't often carry my cards "inside" but on this one I did. I wanted the greeting to go with the image on the front but there was no room. Thus...it HAD to go inside! LOL.

Today I challenged myself to go back to the basics. That was a challenge for me! No embossing, no patterned paper, used only black ink and watermark ink, used a pin and a ruler to do my piercing (instead of my piercer and mat), and the only embellishments were a piece of hemp (from a roll from the $1 store) and 3 brads. But I am REALLY happy with how it came out. Matter of fact, I may just make up a set of these since I need to do a Christmas gift for a friend still. In the meantime...sometime in the next couple days I'll be posting the supplies I used, some tutorials of sort, and the finished card so that a beginning stamper can make the same card themselves. So keep your eye out for that.

Also, of note, today is a new release from Clear Dollar Stamps. I do admit there are a few coordinating sets I really want to purchase. (Even though I need MORE stamps like a hole in the head!). Check out THIS set called Farm Critters. I LOVE the piggy. There is a coordinating "saying" set that you can see HERE. And lastly, they have a wheel you can see HERE that also coordinates. Dang it...I wish companies would quit making cute stuff!

Hope everyone has had a great start to the New Year and that 2009 is better than 2008!

Jane